I guess we all have our customer service stories to tell. Some great and some frustrating. In the land of Uncle Sam that is renowned for the saying"Customers are always right"and with some stores having a six month return policy with or without a receipt , we as customers always expect fair treatment and satisfaction with a product. It is also not wrong to say that sometimes this system is abused and"customer satisfaction"sometimes becomes overrated.

With the availability of 24 hour customer service and in-availability of people to work 24 hours, most of the call centers and customer service requests are routed to places in India where labor is available cheaply and smart brains and English speaking natives are an added plus. Unfortunately, all of that seems non-existent and useless when you are getting help from a human who feels more like a robot reading answers from a manual for questions that you ask. Sometimes you can even hear the sound of pages flipping, sigh!

Scenario 1

I am logged in with a customer service agent from HP trying to report an issue with a laptop I purchased less than a year ago.

Agent: Good morning Anu!

Me: Good morning and how are you?

Agent: Thanks for asking, how may I assist you?

Me: Well, my laptop is not functioning and the keys on the keyboard don't work and the battery is dead, does not get charged.

Agent: OK, so that I understand your issue , your laptop is not functioning and the keys on the keyboard don't work and the battery is dead, does not get charged.

After repeating more or less everything I said again and again, and me spending more than 3 hours troubleshooting with him, I finally got that idiot on the other end to understand that I cannot login because I cannot type the password because the keys on the keyboard don't work. Yeah, and I would have repeated it only about 10 times.

Finally, success and I got him to take it in for repair.

A week passes and I get the laptop back. It turns on, does not beep and the battery seems to have been replaced. But no receipt or order form provided that actually tells you what has been done with the laptop. And there is a small dent on the case.

And so back I am, talking to another Agent. Trust me, they are out to kill you.

Agent: Good morning Anu!

Me: Good morning and how are you? [thinking to myself, please keep my morning good]

Agent: Thanks for asking, how may I assist you?

Me: I have gotten my laptop back, but there is a dent in the case, near the right corner and I am wondering how to get it fixed.

Agent: OK, so that I understand your issue , your laptop has a dent in the screen?

[???$$$$##%*****]

Me: What? DENT IN THE CASE OF THE LAPTOP

Agent: oh ok ok. So I understand your issue, you have a dent in your laptop case? Correct?

Me: Yes! [Thank God for small mercies].

Agent: M'am we are the software dept. I have to transfer you to hardware.

After being transfered between hardware, software and technical support about 6 times, I finally got to speak to one person and we were discussing how to get it fixed, finally!

Agent: So we can send you a pre-paid postage box and you can mail the laptop in and they we will fix it.

Me: Yes, but that will take a lot of time. Is there a local HP service agent that I can take this laptop to?

Agent: Yes, that can be done too, but there may be a charge.

Me: Why? The laptop is still under warranty, why would there be a charge?

Agent: Yes it is under warranty, so there will be no charge. But there could be, I am just saying.

I am almost dead by now.

Me: Fine. Can you tell me where I can find a local service agent here in Portland, OR?

Agent: How can I tell you where the agent is, how do I know who is available where you live? I don't know where you are!

Me: [in utter disbelief]Are you telling me there is no way you can look up who are authorized dealers here or a HP store that can fix this issue here when I am giving you a zip code? [Thinking to myself maybe the manual does not do the search for him]

Agent: I already told you m'am, How can I tell you where the agent is, how do I know who is available where you live?

And I hung up.

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comments:

Hi Anu. I cant tell you how much i empathize with you on this. Customer service can sometimes really get to you. We have had some very bad experiences. I realized that by being polite, they just take you for a ride!

Up to now, there are still certain companies or businesses that has poor service for their clients. And it's sad to know that you've been treated like that. It's kinda disappointing you know. Well as for me, thank God I haven't encountered such an experience like that. Just recently, I had this concern about my new phone because it doesn't seem to work properly. So I called up the call center of that mobile phone company and addressed my concerns. Luckily, I didn't have to wait for years for them to fix my problem.